Marketing Plan Analysis for Mark and Spencer

The assignment requires a detailed analysis of Mark and Spencer's marketing plan, including the 4Ps of marketing mix (product, price, promotion, and place) and competitors analysis. The report should also discuss the importance of market research in decision-making processes and identify potential risks to the company's market growth and reputation.

Marketing

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Marketing plan is the sum up of setting goals and objectives for completion of marketing
activities. It schedules as well as determine the necessary steps in order to accomplish these
objectives. It aids in avoiding future risks and uncertainties and also establish coordination
among all staff members. The assignment is based on Mark and Spencer which is launching its
new product, i.e. Jumbo Jackets in market for this purpose, the company develops a marketing
plan. The company is targeted men and women because the Jacket is useful for both. Along with
this, managers also have to involve various elements of marketing, such as- product, price, place
and promotion.

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
MARKET ANALYSIS ...................................................................................................................2
MARKETING STRATEGY - .......................................................................................................5
TARGET MARKET SELECTION ................................................................................................6
MARKETING MIX.........................................................................................................................7
FINANCIAL PROJECTIONS ........................................................................................................8
Assessment of marketing plan - ......................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
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INTRODUCTION
Marketing plays an eminent role in growth and success of every business organization. It
is a process of identifying, anticipating as well as satisfying customer's desires in an effective
manner. While preparing a marketing plan business organisations used several strategies and
policies with an aim of creating value for target as well as potential buyers (Peter and Donnelly,
2011). Mark and Spencer is the chosen organisation in this present assignment; it is one of the
leading brand over the world. The firm is going to launch its new product, i.e. new Jumbo Jacket
that is useful for male and female both. It is made from leather fabric and it is available in
different shades, such as- black brown, cream, white and as per the needs and wants of
customers. The Jumbo Jacker is available in different styles as well – rednecks, motorcyclists,
long jackets, aviators etc. For manufacturing this, managers are used imperative quality of raw
material. Apart from this, the report will be described importance of marketing strategies; a
marketing plan will be prepared for determining all necessary aspects, i.e. target market,
marketing mix, segmentation, positioning etc.
MARKET ANALYSIS
Market analysis is allows a company to determine a suitable or particular market place
where it can deliver its products and services. It also evaluate the current market share of the
company in comparison of its competitors. Before introducing its product, i.e. Jumbo Jacket in
market, Mark and Spencer also conducts a market analysis. There are different methods of
market analysis which examine each and every aspect of target market, brief description of all
methods is stated as under: -
Company analysis of Mark and Spencer -
The retailing formula of the company is to proving successful by increasing the number
of markets (Mangram, 2012). M&S is the one of the largest retailing company of food, clothing
and other luxurious but its business is expand into clothing products. The company has around
1400 stores over the world which sells clothing, home furnishings, footwear, food etc. Apart
from this, Mark and Spencer was founded in 1894, there are over 68208 employees are currently
working with it, The annual sales of the company is US $80.75 billion.
There are several problems had been faced by the company after 90s, i.e. lack of good employees
and benchmarking strategy towards competitors, poor organisational structure and many more.
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Due to this, the market share of the company went down which also affected its sales and
profitability. Vision statement – To be establish a standard against which others are measured.
 Mission statement – Offering products on affordable prices in order to receive good value
from customers.
Customers analysis – It is fundamental for every business organisation determine interest
and preferences of customers so as to deal with them in an effective manner. Basically, Mark and
Spencer focuses on men, women and children; company produce all of its products and services
by analysing customers' needs and wants. As the firm is launching is new product at global level,
so that firstly it needs to analysis that whether it is beneficial for customers or not (Miles, 2014).
For this, marketing department of M&S needs to conduct a market research in order to determine
buyers interests and their opinions. Although, company's products are capable to meet customers
expectation, as now Mark and Spencer has become one of the popular brand. Therefore,
marketing mix of the company can be use to enlarge so as to reach a niche market; targeting the
upscale, prestige segment by offering excellent clothing products and services.
Condition analysis – The analysis is conducted by Mark and Spencer in order to identify
the market condition. It can be done through SWOT analysis, with this managers can easily
analysis growth opportunities and weak areas. As M&S is introducing its new product for this it
has to find out its strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
SWOT analysis of Mark and Spencer
STRENGTH
 Mark and Spencer spread in
international market, USA, UK, Asia,
China, Australia etc. are the major
market of the company. It has high
recognition of brand.
 It products and services are enough
capable to meet customers' needs and
wants (Smith, 2011). Therefore, Mark
and Spencer has large group of satisfied
customers in which it can easily launch
WEAKNESSES
 Debt reduction
 Customer services become difficult to
maintain due to big store space and
wide range of product line.
 Weak return on investments
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its new product, i.e. Jumbo Jacket.
 Diverse business portfolio.
 Strong domestic presence UK market leadership reinforced.
OPPORTUNITIES
 Targeting young customers-very
fashion cautious group who is capable
to spend high amount on fashion.
 Affordability and choices might make
survive the recession. Online expansion to international
market.
THREATS
 Competition with ZARA, H&M,
NEXT, John Lewis etc. all these are the
greatest clothing brand.
 Political instability
 Unwise acquisition decision
Competitors analysis – It is foremost part of marketing planning process of the company.
Competitors analysis provides information to management about competitors' tactics and their
strengths so as to implement effective policies in order to gain high competitive advantage. The
major competitors of Mark and Spencer are – New look, Peacocks, John Lewis, Next, ZARA,
M&Co., Austin reed, Sainsburry, ASDA, Topshop etc. All these clothing brand has covered of
large market share as same as Mark and Spencer and highly famous among customers. The
current market share of M&S is 43%, NEXT has 6% and ASDA has 295 market share of overall
clothing industry.
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(Source: Amazon is quietly dominating the UK's clothing market, 2016 )
MARKETING STRATEGY -
Afterwards, a marketing strategy is prepared; it is a process of identifying new areas in
which a firm can expand its business in an effective manner. In context of Mark and Spencer, the
firm is getting attention of a wide range of customers in UK by offering qualitative and branded
that is able fulfil their expectations. Therefore the marketing strategy should be focused on
concentrated target marketing (Meidan, Moutinho and Chan, 2015). Apart from this, Marks &
Spencer has positioned in strategic marketing and it is a wide area. The marketing strategies
used by M&S are quite direct and highly focused on the youngsters who are capable to spend
mush amount on fashion brands. Along with this, these marketing strategies prepared after the
analysis of life style, wants, interest, cultures, desires as well as consumption pattern of the
target and potential customers. Marks & Spencer is famous for its unique style of products that
are quite differ from rivals, such as- Tommy Hilfiger, NEXT, The Gap, A&F, etc. Therefore, in
order to sell its new product, i.e. Jumbo Jacket in market, the firm is high focuses on advertising
or promotion. For this, it used new and innovative channels of promotion and also give a 10%
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Illustration 1: Competitors analysis of Mark and Spencer

discount on purchasing of 3 jackets to the first 500 customers. On the other hand, in order to
make improve the quality of goods the M&S is hiring new fashion designers who are attractive
as well as customer oriented and remain loyal for the company.
TARGET MARKET SELECTION
Selection of target market refers to determine the size of the target population and
whether it is group growing, shrinking or staying about the same. In addition, the target market
approach of Marks & Spencer (M&S) is multi-segmented; it emphasised on different areas.
When it comes at segmentation statistics, it is evaluated that middle aged women are largely
responsible for generating profitability and revenues. for the company and even the 80% of
customers of Mark and Spencer are women. Hence, the company also focuses on targeting
various dimensions of people who have good socio economic and educational class; it also
targets higher income urban populations as well (Whalen and Holloway, 2012). Previously, it
was focused on women only but due changes in environmental variables M&S has also entered
into the men market by providing them high quality which boost up the brand image. Target
market of Mark and Spencer is classified into different parts, such as-
 Demographics: Gender, age, family, location, income, and job type
 Psycho-graphic: Social class, lifestyle, personality, motivation
 Geographic: Location, population size, type of area (rural, suburban, or urban)
In which, the firm can select demographical segmentation through which it will easily
sell new Jumbo Jackets as per the genders, i.e. male and female. It will be offered at reasonable
prices which is consumable by every income group of customer on the basis of income.
POSITIONING – Now, Mark and Spencer is now become a global brand so that firm
needs to achieve a high brand position in most variable manner. The firm gives high importance
all parameters of clothing industry that can lift up the brand image. It is positioned with high
quality products in UK market but when it comes to the international market; in some countries,
people have lower socio economic class and lower purchasing power (O'Cass, Ngo and Siahtiri,
2012). In such regions company is focused on flexible pricing strategies so as to sustain new
customers in international market. Therefore, in order to compete with large number of
competitors in global market and differentiate itself the company has to adopt an effective
strategy which suits to the situation. Comfort and quality is treated as prime concern for clothing
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industry. So that if a product is positioned with these parameters helps in providing constant and
long results on long term results to Mark and Spencer which builds high brand equity at
marketplace.
MARKETING MIX
(Source: Introduction to brand management, 2013)
 Product – The product which is designed by company should be able to give an unique
and luxurious experience to customers. The product of the M&S is wide for all group of
people. Major products of the company are – Blazers, Jeans,shirt, skirt, loafers, heels,
Cardigans etc. Beside this, Mark and Spencer is going to be launch a Jumbo Jacket which
is useful for men and women both. If the product will be famous among customers and
then provide high market growth to the company.
 Price – In order to sell its new Jumbo Jackets, Mark and Spencer will adopt pricing
penetration strategy. With this assistance, the business organisation will be able to sell its
products in lower prices at initial level. This helps in building brand position and it also
attract many customers towards firm (Khan, 2014). Therefore, M&S should use
affordable prices for customers of all income level group.
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Illustration 2: Marketing mix

 Place – M&S has 1400 stores which are operating around 50 countries. Marks &
Spencer’s major business is in UK where the company has around 850 stores. Along
with this, the company has recently launched its own website so that customers can
easily purchase products and also get home delivery option. On the other hand, the
clothing venture will be decided to distribute the new woollen product by both online and
offline mode. Marks and Spencer has its own shopping application from where buyers
can purchase Jacket.
 Promotion – For advertising and promoting the new Jumbo Jackets Mark and Spencer
will use of various channels of social media, i.e. online websites, Facebook, twitter, you
tube etc.
FINANCIAL PROJECTIONS
In this stage, management is required to analyse the financial position of the company.
For effective completion of marketing activities, a budget is prepared which is described as
under: -
Marketing budget
Particulars 1st year 2nd year 3rd year 4th year 5th year
Initial money 80000 110000 165000 125000 40000
Investment 28000 35000 42000 15600
Total 80000 82000 130000 83000 24400
Marketing
expenditures
Advertisement 7000 8000 7500 6000 6000
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sales promotion 2000 3000 2500 3000 6500
Direct marketing 5000 2000 5500 8000 3500
Total 14000 13000 15500 17000 16000
Available balance 66000 69000 114500 66000 8400
Assessment of marketing plan -
At last, the overall plan is assessed by marketing manager of Mark and Spencer. There
are three ways of assessment of marketing plan, such as- controlling and directing all working
activities, anticipating outcomes by taking feedbacks, evaluating sales and identifying
competitors responses through a market research.
CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned report, it has been summarised that marketing plan has an
important role in decision making process of the company. While developing the plan it is
essential for Mark and Spencer to analyse all internal and external which can harm firm's market
growth and reputation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Khan, M.T., 2014. The concept of'marketing mix'and its elements (a conceptual review
paper). International journal of information, business and management. 6(2). p.95.
Mangram, M. E., 2012. The globalization of Tesla Motors: a strategic marketing plan
analysis. Journal of Strategic Marketing. 20(4). pp.289-312.
Meidan, A., Moutinho, L. and Chan, R. S., 2015. Marketing Effectiveness Index (MEI)-Tool for
Strategic Marketing Planning. In Proceedings of the 1992 Academy of Marketing
Science (AMS) Annual Conference. (pp. 480-485). Springer, Cham.
Miles, J., 2014. Instagram power: Build your brand and reach more customers with the power of
pictures. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Morgan, N. A., Katsikeas, C. S. and Vorhies, D. W., 2012. Export marketing strategy
implementation, export marketing capabilities, and export venture performance. Journal
of the Academy of Marketing Science. 40(2). pp.271-289.
O'Cass, A., Ngo, L. V. and Siahtiri, V., 2012. Examining the marketing planning–marketing
capability interface and customer-centric performance in SMEs. Journal of Strategic
Marketing. 20(6). pp.463-481.
Peter, J. P. and Donnelly, J. H., 2011. Marketing management: knowledge and skills: text,
analysis, cases, plans. Plano: Business pub., INC.
Smith, D. A., 2011. Strategic marketing of library resources and services. College &
Undergraduate Libraries. 18(4). pp.333-349.
Whalen, P.S. and Holloway, S.S., 2012. Effectual marketing planning for new ventures. AMS
review. 2(1). pp.34-43.
Wymer, W., 2011. Developing more effective social marketing strategies. Journal of Social
Marketing. 1(1). pp.17-31.
Online
Introduction to brand management, 2013. [Online]. Available through: <http://professional-
paper-writing-service.blogspot.in/2013/05/marks-and-spencers-current-4-ps-of.html>
Amazon is quietly dominating the UK's clothing market, 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.businessinsider.in/OECD-Brexit-would-be-like-a-tax-on-British
people/articleshow/52010654.cms>.
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